175,860 people (2024 Census estimate, +1.5% since 2020)
418 square miles of land · 421 people per square mile
“Highest” and “lowest” are just order, not grades: a high rank for poverty or hazard losses means more of it. Each figure's source is in its section below.
8 active community water systems list Porter County in the area they serve, reporting 46,343 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| VALPARAISO DEPARTMENT OF WATER WORKS groundwater · local government · IN5264029 | 36,000 served |
| HEBRON WATER DEPARTMENT groundwater · local government · IN5264009 | 3,724 served |
| L-A-C UTILITIES buys groundwater · private · IN5264033 | 2,441 served |
| KOUTS WATER WORKS groundwater · local government · IN5264013 | 2,028 served |
| OGDEN DUNES WATER buys surface water · local government · IN5264040 | 1,110 served |
| FOREST OAKS MHC, LLC groundwater · private · IN5264003 | 500 served |
| LIBERTY FARMS MOBILE HOME PARK - #1 groundwater · private · IN5264017 | 390 served |
| MALLARDS POINTE WATER SYSTEM groundwater · private · IN5264041 | 150 served |
Source: U.S. EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), active community systems, . Look up any system's violations and test results with EPA's search using its ID.
About 367 people were held in Porter County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2024), or 327 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2019 it was about 331.
Source: Vera Institute of Justice, Incarceration Trends (built from federal Bureau of Justice Statistics jail surveys). Counties without their own jail, or that share one, may show no figure.
7 school districts have their office in Porter County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $101.3 million — $84 million to run schools, about $12,458 per student, plus $7.7 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $24.7 million local (mostly property tax), $65.4 million state, $10.9 million federal. Long-term debt: $43.5 million.
Spent $97.8 million — $73.6 million to run schools, about $11,533 per student, plus $11.4 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $38.2 million local (mostly property tax), $58.1 million state, $5.1 million federal. Long-term debt: $148.4 million.
Spent $115.6 million — $78.9 million to run schools, about $13,779 per student, plus $29.9 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $39.3 million local (mostly property tax), $51.9 million state, $5.7 million federal. Long-term debt: $165.1 million.
Spent $33.5 million — $25.9 million to run schools, about $10,771 per student, plus $4.5 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $14.2 million local (mostly property tax), $21.4 million state, $1.5 million federal. Long-term debt: $28.3 million.
Spent $20.9 million — $14.9 million to run schools, about $9,769 per student, plus $3 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $9.4 million local (mostly property tax), $10.7 million state, $877,000 federal. Long-term debt: $41.8 million.
Spent $24.9 million — $17.6 million to run schools, about $12,501 per student, plus $6.2 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $10.4 million local (mostly property tax), $12.7 million state, $506,000 federal. Long-term debt: $22.6 million.
Spent $15.5 million — $11.8 million to run schools, about $11,045 per student, plus $2.2 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $6 million local (mostly property tax), $9.3 million state, $838,000 federal. Long-term debt: $17.4 million.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 Annual Survey of School System Finances. Districts are listed by the county of their main office; some serve neighboring counties too.
Source: County Health Rankings & Roadmaps 2025 (University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute), which gathers federal data (CDC, Census, and others); measures cover different recent years. Blank lines aren't reported for small counties.
Overall risk: Relatively Moderate compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Porter County about $58.2 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very High; social vulnerability: Very Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
279 bridges in Porter County: 115 in good condition, 151 fair, and 13 poor (4.7%). “Poor” means a main part — the deck, the beams, or the supports — is rated 4 or lower on the federal 0–9 scale. It doesn't mean unsafe to drive; unsafe bridges are closed.
| I-94 WB over US 20 EB/WB · built 1969 | 40,435 vehicles a day |
| US 12 EB over BURNS DITCH (DEEP RIVER) · built 1970 | 4,635 vehicles a day |
| SR 249G NELSON DR over US 12 2 RR 2 ROADS · built 2000 | 4,256 vehicles a day |
| CR 200W over DAMON RUN · built 1968 | 3,230 vehicles a day |
| LENBURG ROAD over SALT CREEK · built 1968 | 3,140 vehicles a day |
| US 12 WB over BURNS DITCH (DEEP RIVER) · built 1970 | 1,763 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $43.2 million of work in Porter County in fiscal 2025, about $249 per resident — to the county, cities, schools, hospitals, nonprofits and others.
Source: USAspending.gov, grants by place of performance, fiscal 2025 (Oct. 2024 to Sept. 2025). Search it by county to see each award.
From Grants.gov: posted grants listing county governments as eligible, soonest deadline first; research-only and overseas programs left out; list updated 2026-10-13, refreshed weekly. 62 are open in all. Cities, towns, school districts and nonprofits have their own lists there.
Registration deadlines, early voting and polling places for Indiana are on the federal site vote.gov, which links to the state's official election office.
The budget, property tax rates, audits, local officials and offices for Porter County come from the county's own records, which we haven't gathered — not gathered, never hidden. See what a full county site looks like, or ask to have Porter County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Indiana: the state government and every county in Indiana.
Nearby counties: Lake County (16 mi) · LaPorte County (17 mi) · Berrien County, MI (26 mi) · Starke County (27 mi) · Jasper County (34 mi) · Pulaski County (38 mi).